Part II strengthening the cultural sector in developing countries 7 Cultural cooperation in development policy 1 Introduction

The Government’s overriding development policy objectives are to combat poverty and promote fair distribution. Norway’s cultural cooperation with countries in the South is based on the conviction that a free and independent cultural life helps to fight poverty and reduce inequality.

Implementation of human rights is both an objective in itself and an important tool in development efforts. Cultural cooperation is intended to strengthen fundamental human rights in general and promote cultural rights in particular.

There are several aspects to culture: economic, social and in terms of values. It contributes to the development of both the individual and society, and to the formation of identity for the individual, for groups and for society as a whole.

Culture is a significant element of civil society, and plays a role in the way civil society contributes to development. A strong, free cultural sector is a force for social change and in state- and nation-building, democratic development, and peace and reconciliation processes. Culture also has an economic aspect. Cultural industries are dynamic and make a substantial contribution to economic growth, value creation and employment. Norway’s cultural cooperation with countries in the South is intended to strengthen the cultural sector in these countries because of its inherent value and because of its contribution to poverty reduction.

The right to practise one’s culture freely and without fear of discrimination or persecution is essential to the development of a free and democratic society. Acknowledging and promoting respect for cultural diversity open the way for people-to-people dialogue and gender equality. Good framework conditions for cultural expression can also help to prevent conflict, both within and between nations, and protect the rights of marginalised groups. Cultural diversity is our common heritage and must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations. Cultural cooperation in development policy is also about promoting this global public good.

Cultural rights are among the fundamental human rights, and cultural cooperation is part of Norway’s efforts to promote these rights at the global level. Strengthening cultural rights is also a goal in itself and a means of strengthening civil society in its role as an agent for change and a force for development, and of promoting a more open and democratic society.

Box 7.1

The Strategy for Norway’s culture and sports co-operation with countries in the South (2006–2014) was used as a guideline for the work in this area. The strategy was evaluated by Norad– the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation in 2011, and the goals, priorities, cooperation partners and quality assurance described in the present white paper are directly inspired by the evaluation findings.

Norway’s cultural cooperation will:

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  Promote the development of free cultural expression and cultural diversity.
  
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  Promote the development of expertise, quality and professionalism in the cultural sector.
  
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  Support cultural infrastructure, including meeting places that will provide artists and other cultural actors with opportunities for development.
  
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  Protect and promote tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
  
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  In all these efforts, emphasise respect for cultural rights in particular and freedom of expression in general, together with South–South cooperation, including regional cooperation. End box
  

Support will be confined to activities that have a clear effect on development, and priority will be given to projects that are considered to have a catalytic effect on the development of the cultural sector. Norway’s vision is a cultural sector where free cultural expression, cultural rights and cultural diversity are ensured, and where development aid to the sector has become superfluous.

A work of art originates at the local level, with the artist, but the final work transcends geographical and other borders. Artists meet on an equal footing and communicate through art, regardless of language and nationality. Art has a global reach.

However, the conditions for artistic and cultural expression vary considerably, both within and between countries. Large economic and financial differences, lack of freedom and the presence of conflict all have a negative effect on cultural expression and access to cultural goods.

There are in general major differences between developed and developing countries in terms of participation in the formal cultural sector or in cultural life. In many developing countries the majority of people have no possibility of seeing a film or a play or visiting a museum, library or cultural centre, either because the necessary cultural infrastructure is lacking or inadequate, or because they cannot afford to. The same applies to access to cultural information. As the gap between the rich and the poor becomes wider, it also increases inequality of access to cultural products. On the other hand, art and culture in developing countries are often part of the informal and/or more traditional sector, and in such cases cultural expression has a strong position and a popular basis even though the formal cultural sector may be weak.

Photo: Sylvia Gichia

The position of culture in developing countries in 2013 shows a mixed picture. Many countries have unfavourable conditions for exercising the right to participate in cultural life, to free cultural expression, to enjoy art and culture and, for artists, to benefit from the fruits of their work. States are responsible for safeguarding and enforcing human rights and for pursuing a good and effective cultural policy, but many of them do not comply with their obligations. Artistic freedom is limited in many countries. This applies particularly to women and in many cases also to indigenous and other vulnerable groups. The global dialogue on culture is influenced by the tension between the right to freedom of expression and the demand for the limitation of this right so as not to offend cultural or religious sensitivities. Protecting and developing cultural heritage and cultural diversity is a challenge in every country, but is particularly great in developing countries. In many of these tangible cultural heritage is also under pressure from forces such as war and conflict, despite the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

Enforcing the right of artists to benefit financially from their work is fraught with a number of difficulties. Intellectual property organisations are poorly developed in most developing countries, and artists have little right to ownership and control of their creative productions. Entrepreneurs cannot afford to assert a claim to copyright or further develop their businesses, and have to look on while others copy their ideas without payment of a fee. This state of affairs is often due to the fact that the legal institutions are generally weak, but also to the fact that being an artist is not considered a profession and that the contribution of the arts to the local economy goes unrecognised.

On the other hand there are a number of positive developments. Cultural industries are one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the global economy and have the potential to boost trade, employment and economic growth. An international lobby for culture and development issues is emerging, and alliances are being formed between organisations and networks in the South and North that seek to induce their own governments and the international community to comply with cultural human rights and develop sound cultural policies. These efforts contribute substantially to putting culture on the international agenda, and the Government is supporting several of these networks.

Norway’s cultural cooperation with countries in the South seeks to minimise the differences between North and South and strengthen opportunities for artistic and cultural expression and participation in cultural life.

Cultural industries are one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the global economy. The developing countries have won a considerable share of the global market, and there has been substantial growth in South–South trade in the cultural field, with an annual rate of 20 % in the period 2002–08.

According to UNESCO, the 2008 growth rates of the cultural industries were 17.6 % in the Middle East, 13.9 % in Africa, 11.9 % in South America, 9.7 % in Asia, 6.9 % in Oceania and 4.3 % in North and Central America. For example in Ecuador, cultural activities represented 4.76 % of GDP in 2010, with 2.64 % of employed in the cultural sector, almost 60 % of whom were women.

According to UNCTAD’s Creative Economy Report 2010, the cultural industries represented 4.77 % of GDP in Mexico, 4.75 % in Lebanon, 5.1 % in Jamaica and 7.6 % in Guatemala. The report stated that cultural industries contribute significantly to employment and typically account for 2–8 % of the workforce in the economy, depending on the scope of the sector.

The tourism sector is also one of the most rapidly growing sectors in global terms, with an average growth of 7 % from 1998 to 2008, and 12 % for the least developed countries in the same period. Cultural tourism based on tangible and intangible cultural heritage accounts for 40 % of the global revenues from tourism. Investment in culture and creativity has been shown to be a driver for the revitalisation of urban economies.

The carnival in Rio is estimated to bring in USD 600 million annually to Brazil, and the tango earns USD 135 million a year for Buenos Aires. Shanghai has recognised the economic potential of culture and drawn up a development plan for its cultural industries. This has resulted in a growing number of cultural centres, museums and libraries, which have created new jobs and increased the demand for books, films and visual art. End box

Art and culture are fundamental values and as such are covered by human rights conventions. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:

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   Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
   
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   Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
   

Article 15 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights lays down the right to take part in cultural life, and stresses the importance of the conservation, development and diffusion of culture and of respect for the freedom indispensable for creative activity.

Human rights should be valued, respected and observed in all countries, and it is the responsibility of states to ensure that they are implemented within their territory. Norwegian policy will contribute to this end.

Many states do not comply with their obligations to respect and enforce cultural rights. Freedom of expression and artistic and cultural freedom are being suppressed in many countries. Women artists cannot show their work in public in Iran. Gay and transsexual artists are persecuted in South Africa. Before the liberation of northern Mali, all music was banned by the Islamic militants. In many parts of the world performing artists are censored, persecuted and imprisoned. In countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, actors and stand-up comics are imprisoned and their lives threatened, and they and their families suffer from harassment. Cultural expressions are subject to restrictions and censorship, and decisions on what is permitted and what is considered unsuitable or dangerous are imposed by force.

When freedom of expression is suppressed, access to cultural activities, goods and services is also restricted. This is not confined to totalitarian regimes, and it is not necessarily governments that practise censorship and control. Sociocultural factors, women’s general position in society, and religious practices may also effectively prevent artistic and cultural expressions.

Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes tend to use culture as a means of oppression. Government-approved, “correct” art is produced and used as propaganda, and the resulting uniformity prevents the population from enjoying free cultural expression and diversity.

In today’s globalised world, the issue of censorship can be triggered by an event at the local level and rapidly escalate to become global, as happened in the Mohammed cartoons controversy. Discussions in the UN have shown that the media and the cultural world are influenced at the global level by a tension between the right to freedom of expression and the demand for limitation of such right so as not to offend certain groups’ religious sensitivities. In many countries cultural rights, including freedom of expression, are guaranteed in the constitution while at the same time musicians, film directors and artists are being subjected to persecution.

Freedom of expression is one of the most important pillars of a democracy and must be safeguarded. Criticism or ridiculing of what an individual or group considers to be the most important framework for their lives may cause distress. However, Norway maintains that the purpose of human rights is to protect individuals and not ideologies or religions. Freedom of expression is central to the Government’s human rights policy.

At the conference in Norway entitled All that is Banned is Desired, the Tibetan visual artist and poet Tenzing Rigdol described how, while a number of his works had been shown in China, a well-known New York gallery had refused to exhibit his work in order not to harm US relations with China. Artists present at the conference from countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar, Russia and Mali stressed the importance of protecting the individual’s right to freedom of cultural expression, and that the banning of works on moral or religious grounds violates this right. End box

Norway has ratified a number of UNESCO conventions dealing with culture: the Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954, the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970, the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 (the World Heritage Convention), the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of 2003 (the 2003 Convention), and the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005. The conventions set standards for compliance and action at the national level and commit the states parties to cooperate at the international level.

The World Heritage Convention is the most important normative instrument for the protection of the global cultural and natural heritage. The convention has been ratified by 190 countries and forms a sound foundation for North–South and South–South cooperation on an equal basis. The main purpose of the convention is to protect the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value, and this requires national institution- and capacity-building. Given the strong focus on world heritage sites, the work for sustainable development also occupies a central place in international cooperation in this field. For example, models have been constructed for the sustainable commercial development of cultural properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, based on local opportunities and restrictions and including participation by local communities. States parties are committed to supporting countries in need of assistance in their efforts to protect their world heritage properties.

The purpose of the 2003 Convention is to raise awareness of and ensure respect for the importance of the intangible cultural heritage and to encourage a more coherent approach in international efforts in this field. The starting point for the convention is that threatened intangible cultural expressions must be protected by establishing framework conditions for their preservation and development. The convention is an important instrument for protecting intangible cultural heritage and increasing knowledge about this heritage in developing countries.

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is a particularly important frame of reference for understanding the significance of culture for individual and social development. The aim of the convention is to enable the states parties to adopt and implement a cultural policy that favours a diversity of cultural expressions. The convention states that cultural activities, goods and services are vehicles of identity, values and meaning, and that they have a cultural as well as an economic aspect. This means that such goods and services should not be treated as if their value is purely commercial. The convention strengthens the ability of poor countries to develop their own cultural policies and combat the cultural uniformity that is often the result of the strong commercial interests of other countries.

Although the convention points out that globalisation may be a challenge to cultural diversity and represent a risk of imbalance between rich and poor countries, it also points out that developing countries stand to benefit from globalisation processes. It calls on countries to promote the free exchange and circulation of ideas, cultural expressions and cultural goods and services. Developed countries that are states parties to the convention have committed themselves to providing favourable conditions for cultural exchanges with developing countries and to cooperating internationally on strengthening the developing countries’ own expertise and capacity to take appropriate cultural policy measures and protect and promote cultural diversity. Norway played an active part in the negotiations on the convention and our cultural cooperation with developing countries takes special account of the principles enshrined in it.

Norway’s cultural cooperation with developing countries is part of the Government’s efforts to ensure that everyone enjoys fundamental human rights. Norway considers that the right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community, the right to enjoy the arts, and the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any literary or artistic production of which they are the author are fundamental rights. Our cooperation with countries in the South is intended to promote cultural rights, both because culture has a value in itself and because a strong cultural sector stimulates development. Our efforts are intended to assist states fulfil their obligations and strengthen opportunities for individuals to claim their rights.

Cultural rights are both a means and an end in our development policy. Human development is basically concerned with enabling individuals to live a good life and to possess the tools and opportunities to choose the kind of life they want to live. In addition to its inherent value, the protection of cultural rights boosts the efforts to achieve other development policy goals, and this is the basis of Norway’s support for the cultural sector in developing countries.

UNESCO has helped to raise awareness of the fact that culture plays an important role in development through its 1998 report Our Creative Diversity, through its work with the Millennium Development Goals and most recently in connection with Rio+20. However, we still lack workable concepts, analyses and systems for measuring results in this field.

A common point of departure when defining development is to view it in the context of people’s opportunities, capabilities and freedom of choice. Development is giving the individual the possibility to live a longer and healthier life, better access to knowledge, a better standard of living, better living conditions, and greater opportunities to participate in society and in decision-making processes that affect them. Development policy is intended to establish a situation where people can control their own resources and demand that their rights are respected and safeguarded, where they enjoy a minimum of economic security and where they are able to make choices to improve their future.

In addition to being linked with market and other economic factors, development is also a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.

Human development is first and foremost about allowing people to lead the kind of life they choose – and providing them with the tools and opportunities to make these choices.

UNDP, Human Development Report 2004, Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World. end box

The debate on culture and development in the UN system and the international financial institutions

In 1991, in response to a Norwegian initiative, UNESCO established the World Commission on Culture and Development in connection with the World Decade for Cultural Development 1988–1997. The intention was to make a coherent and comprehensive analysis of the links between culture and development. The commission concluded that culture serves as a basis and framework for development. Seen from this perspective, culture is inseparable from sustainable development. For many years the debate on culture and development was confined to UNESCO, but it has gradually spread to the rest of the UN system and the World Bank. There is now a stronger focus on the value of culture, and especially the cultural industries, in economic development; this applies for example to the importance of cultural heritage for tourism.

The Millennium Declaration refers clearly to the need for tolerance and respect for cultural diversity, but does not deal specifically with culture’s contribution to development. In 2010 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 65/166, Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which points to the importance of the cultural dimension for achieving the goals. Norway supported the inclusion of this perspective. Further resolutions have elaborated on this view, including resolution 66/208 of 2012 on culture and development and the Rio+20 outcome document.

The lack of relevant data and quantitative indicators, and the problems related to the practical implementation of a broadly defined concept of culture, have made it difficult to include cultural considerations in policy development and development programmes. In 2013 UNESCO published a Culture for Development Indicator Suite that highlights the importance of culture for boosting economic growth and as a means of achieving other important development goals.

The role of culture in society and its contribution to social development has been extensively debated in connection with development policy. The international debate on the role of culture in development is relevant to Norway’s cultural cooperation with countries in the South insofar as it deals with the importance of the cultural sector and cultural expression for social development.

The Government believes that the value of culture for development should be more appreciated, that this understanding should have practical consequences, and that greater attention should paid to including culture as a factor in the formulation of development policy. We need to expand our knowledge about the potential of cultural industries for poverty reduction and gender equality at the international level with a view to establishing a firmer international knowledge base concerning the role of culture in development, and better indicators for measuring results. This will in turn enable us to ensure that our support for the cultural sector will have a greater catalytic effect.

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  Seek to ensure that the importance of culture for development receives more attention in relevant international forums where development policy is discussed and formulated.